Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
62nd Report - Faulty energy efficiency installations
Published 23 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Faulty energy efficiency installations All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The National Audit Office reported that the Department designed both ECO and the consumer protection and quality assurance system to operate at arm’s length from government, and that the Department gave itself limited oversight and influence of ECO4 and GBIS. It concluded that the Department and Ofgem took quick action but this was only after TrustMark shared its analysis of high levels of non-compliance with quality standards in external wall insulation in October 2024.56 Witnesses at our oral evidence session indicated that other information should have alerted the Department to the issues much earlier.57 The National Audit Office concluded that the Department did not fully use the levers it did have to oversee ECO4 and GBIS, and that its poor oversight of the schemes meant senior officials assumed the quality assurance system was working when it was not.58 The Department accepted that it should have been more questioning and given the schemes more oversight, and that there were not enough installation checks.59
From: Public Accounts Committee, 62nd Report - Faulty energy efficiency installations (HC 1229), 23 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 April 2026 (deadline 23 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations, but disagrees with the recommendation to halt wall insulation installation without independent supervision and with the recommendation to refer fraud to the Serious Fraud Office.
- On wall insulation, it disagrees with the recommendation, noting that every household with external wall insulation under ECO4 and GBIS "is being and will be offered an on-site audit", subject to the householder accepting; internal wall insulation concerns are triaged and referred for audit where they meet "the threshold of risk factors".
- It agrees on the find-and-fix programme: TrustMark "currently intend" it to complete by May 2027, though the department states it is "unlikely" to deliver on a "significantly shorter timescale". It will update the Committee in writing every six months, first in June 2026.
- It disagrees with referring fraud across ECO to the Serious Fraud Office, stating that this "relates to an existing ongoing responsibility of the regulator", Ofgem, which can and does make referrals where appropriate.
- It agrees to publish an annual report to Parliament on retrofit schemes, with the first publication "before Autumn 2027", and "intends to consult" on the design of a reformed consumer protection system during summer 2026.